Nothing More
by Mirai No Jennyfur
Summary: After a shocking murder is cast onto world-wide television,a long forgotten nightmare has come back to haunt Sakura. Worried,she takes refuge in her closest friends,soon realizing they are nothing more than the universe to her.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Card Captor Sakura characters. They all belong to Clamp. Everything else comes from MY imagination. 'Nuff said.  
  
Author's Note: Ok, it ain't perfect, it ain't the worst, but just read on to find out what the Hell it's all about! I'm not sure if I should finish it. A couple of reviews and e-mails could sway my decision! ^.~  
  
Nothing More  
  
By: Mirai No Jennyfur  
  
Prologue  
  
A rose petal dropped onto the smooth glass of water.  
  
"Sakura."  
  
The haunting voice echoed in her mind.  
  
"Sakura."  
  
It wouldn't stop.  
  
"Sakura."  
  
She tried to answer out, but nothing happened.  
  
"Sakura!"  
  
All of a sudden, the rose petal twisted into fire and the flames seem to swallow up the water completely. The flames walked nearer and nearer to her. She turned, trying to run away, but the fire encircled her, with nowhere to go.  
  
"Failure."  
  
The voice hissed to her.  
  
"Failure."  
  
The flames began licking at her feet and then, completely devoured her body.  
  
---  
  
"No!!!" She screamed, awaking in sheer horror of her nightmare.  
  
"What?!" Kero flew up from the edge of her desk.  
  
"No." She whispered. Sakura looked it her arms, and tossed up her covers. There was nothing. No injuries, no scars, nothing. But she could've sworn.  
  
"What Sakura?!? Sakura!" She remained silent for a few minutes, trying to grasp the concept of her being unharmed.  
  
"It. I." Her voice trailed off.  
  
"What happened!?"  
  
"I. I.  
  
"Sakura! Tell me what happened!"  
  
"I," She breathed, "Had a dream."  
  
"A dream?" Kero asked suspiciously.  
  
"Yeah. A dream." Their conversation stopped there.  
  
It was a dream, she thought to herself, just a dream. She looked over herself again, almost overtaken by paranoia. Sakura had felt the heat, she had felt the flames, burning the skin off her bones, inch by inch. Piece by piece. It couldn't have been a dream. It was too real. Too real.  
  
Yet she laid her back down and looked out toward her window. It was a full moon tonight. The cold air blew in from the small opening she had left earlier. She got up and shut it, then laid back down, and closed her eyes, hoping for a better sleep. And Kero watched her, making sure, that no other dreams came to haunt the girl, or anyone else at that.  
  
---  
  
"My lord, 'tis time to awaken her?"  
  
"No. It is much to early in the. game, to do that. We should wait a bit longer. The girl and the cards shall both be ours soon. Timing just makes all the difference."  
  
  


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Card Captor Sakura characters. They all belong to Clamp. Everything else comes from MY imagination. 'Nuff said.  
  
Author's Note: Here I am again! I update quicker than ya thought I would huh? Well, read on! Don't forget to review it! ^^  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Ten years later on a Saturday afternoon...  
  
"Sakura!!! Come on! We're gonna be late! The movie starts in half an hour!!!"  
  
"Matte (Wait) Tomoyo! Just a few more minutes..." Sakura ran out from her door, slamming it behind her.  
  
"Ai-yo! (Ah!)" A female voice yelled from inside.  
  
"Gomen nasai! (Sorry!)" And she jumped inside a blue Toyota, with Tomoyo at the wheel. She started the car with a laugh.  
  
"At this rate, Miss. Chun Li over there's gonna kick your butt outta the dorm room in no time!"  
  
"*sweatdrop* She wouldn't do that... Plus Chai can't kick me out of the dorm, since she's not like, a teacher or anything."  
  
"What if she tries to get you kicked out anyways?"  
  
"Well .... Erm .... *sweatdrop* Hey look! We're here!" Sakura pointed to a large movie theater.  
  
"Wow.... It looks even prettier than it did last time I came here!"  
  
"Which was like, 7 months ago."  
  
"Still!" The large, gold building had a big sign that ran across it that said "Hikawa Movies: The place where the sun always shines." Lights surrounded the sign and under it were the times of the 30 different movies it would be playing. Tomoyo pointed to the 1:20 showing of a romantic comedy movie called, "Wo Ai Ni: A Chinese Love Story." Tomoyo parked her car and got out, Sakura following.  
  
"I can't wait to see the movie! I heard it was really sweet!"  
  
"And I heard there's this one part where the guy calls someone on the phone, and he thinks it's her, and he confesses his love! It turns out to be an old man!" The girls laughed as they walked up the stairs to the ticket booth. Tomoyo walked up the cashier.  
  
"Two for the 1:20 showing of Wo Ai Ni."  
  
"Nani?! (What?!) Hoe?" Sakura said with a confused look.  
  
"I'm buying." Tomoyo said with a smile as she received the tickets.  
  
"But, but but-"  
  
"No but's. It's my treat. Plus you've been studying so hard for your finals, I figured ya need a break anyways." Sakura gave Tomoyo a warm hug.  
  
"Thanks a bunch!"  
  
"No problem. Let's go watch the movie!" They walked into the theater, and handed their tickets to an employee. Sakura ran up to the cashier selling food, and said hungrily.  
  
"One large popcorn, and medium Cherry Coke! Oh! And add another large popcorn and a..." She turned to Tomoyo. She didn't answer.  
  
"Tomoyo! C'mon! You treated the tickets, I treated the food!" Tomoyo sighed.  
  
"..And a small Sprite please."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Okay." Sakura paid the bill. She ran over to a little enclosed area that carried the essentials (ketchup, mustard, etc.)and grabbed some napkins and pushed a button so that butter oozed out from a little tube. She pushed it again. And again.  
  
"Uhm, Sakura, isn't that enough butter?" Tomoyo shook some salt over her popcorn.  
  
"Nah! No way!" Sakura pushed the button again, and instead of it squirting out onto the popcorn, it squirted all over her shirt. She jumped back.  
  
"AH!!!" She wiped at it frantically with her napkins, dropping the buttered popcorn and her drink. She turned around and came face-to-face with an angry employee.  
  
"Uhm uhm.. Gomen?" Sakura said nervously, then ran to the girl's room. Tomoyo shook her head with a small laugh.  
  
"Some things never change."  
  
And she was right.  
  
Some things don't.  
  
---  
  
Two hours later, Sakura and Tomoyo walked out of the theater, chattering about the movie.  
  
"Could you believe that he actually went and-"  
  
"And the part where-"  
  
"Then he went and fell into the puddle!" They laughed and walked into Tomoyo's car. Sakura smelled her shirt and made an ugly face.  
  
"Smells like butter."  
  
"I wonder why!" Tomoyo laughed and started the engine.  
  
"Where to?" Sakura shrugged.  
  
"Anywhere that has a sink and an extra shirt!" Tomoyo nodded.  
  
"To my place it is then!" She sped off and Sakura turned on the radio.  
  
"Commercials.... Blech...." She turned the knob, and was about to shut it off, when Tomoyo stopped her.  
  
"Wait.. Stop.. They're talking about Yojo having a filming a movie.... Here!!" Yojo was a famous movie director, known all over Japan for his best work. They both listened in on the radio.  
  
".... He will began shooting next Saturday at 7:00 am. Anybody that would like to try out for a part may go to Hikawa Theater on Monday noon, which will be closed all next week. That's all the news for now, stay tuned!" Tomoyo turned the radio off as she parked her car by Pear Apartments, the exquisite place where she had been staying. Since the owner had been friends with her mother, he had given Tomoyo one of the best apartments in his complex, at half price! Tomoyo walked up and slashed her card through the machine stuck to the wall beside the locked Pear Apartment doors.  
  
"Ding! Card accepted." The doors immediately unlocked and Tomoyo walked in. All of a sudden, Sakura turned right as a motorcycle zoomed past, with a familiar face at driving the vehicle.  
  
She stopped in her tracks. It couldn't be, she thought to herself. It couldn't, it was probably just a look-alike.... She thought back to when he had left so many years past.... And how sad she had been. How her life fell apart when he had went back. Back home. To Hong Kong.  
  
"Sakura! Hurry up before the door closes!"  
  
"Hoe? Oh! Coming Tomoyo!" Sakura ran in the door, right before the doors locked again. She ran up the stairs after Tomoyo, and followed her into her home.  
  
"Home sweet home," Tomoyo said as she opened her door. The place was beautiful, Sakura thought to herself, having only been here a couple of times. The floor was made of furnished-wood panels, the ceiling high. The living was first, and there were three, long, stretched out windows at the back of the room. Sakura plopped down onto the red velvet couch and turned on the television.  
  
"Want anything to drink?"  
  
"No. Tomoyo! Come here! Quick!" Tomoyo set her jacket down and ran over to the couch.  
  
On the television, there was a dead man, brutally slashed to death, with a knife stabbed with a note on his chest. At the bottom of the screen, it read 'Live Broadcast,' meaning that it was as real as ever. The reporter starting describing the situation.  
  
"Today, at 2: 21 PM., Mr. Tamaka Likani was murdered by someone unfamiliar to all authorities. His maid, Yoli Kama, came in for the afternoon cleaning, and found him dead on the floor." Tomoyo gasped.  
  
"How horrible." Sakura nodded. The camera zoomed in on the note, it was written in very messy print, and was short. It had read of only word, and that word was read as:  
  
"Failure."  
  
A shock went throughout her entire body, almost freezing her in place. Sakura turned off the television immediately. She got up from the couch.  
  
"I should be going Tomoyo, thanks for the movies. I had a great time." She managed a weak smile, and ran out of the room.  
  
"You need a ride?" Tomoyo shouted.  
  
"No thanks! Ja ne! (Bye!)" Sakura answered back, and ran onto the street, panting, out of breath. She leaned against the wall, and for an reason unknown to her, she collapsed onto the ground, and cried.  
  
---  
  
"It worked my lord. All is going as planned."  
  
"Good. Are you sure she noticed?"  
  
"She did. Don't worry. She did."  
  
"Absolutely fantastic." 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Card Captor Sakura characters. They all belong to Clamp. Everything else comes from MY imagination. 'Nuff said.  
  
Author's Note: ^.~ C'mon! GIMME SUM SUPPORT! *whew* Longer than I thought, but good! YAH!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
It started raining. The cold, wet water drops dripped onto the street, the dark clouds gathering together. Sakura was still out. Crying. Her own tears mixing with the tears of the world. She couldn't understand it all. Why? Why was she crying? Why did she feel like, the note had been meant for her? Why did she feel like. innocent people were dying?  
  
She couldn't move. She could barely breathe. She couldn't even think. Cars zoomed by, splashing water all over her thin pink windbreaker. Sakura shivered as a large force of wind rushed against her. She needed to find a place to crash, fast.  
  
It was too far from Tomoyo's house, she could tell, since she had been walking for at least 2 hours. She was close to her dorm, but not close enough to make it there before she was completely worn. Many of the shops in the city started closing and some stayed opened. She saw a little bookshop in front of her, with an 'Open' sign on it, just as she saw thunder strike in the sky above. Sakura ran in the door, soaking. The little bell ringed as she walked in, dripping water everywhere.  
  
"Hello?" It was very dim inside, barely any lights, but it was surprisingly warm. She looked around. It wasn't a bookshop. It was something else.. She turned to her right, and found candles, to her left, books, and in front of her, a whole table of strange ingredients for. magic. It was a magic shop.  
  
She hugged herself as she walked around, looking perhaps for a coffee machine or a vending machine with something warm. Sakura yelled out as she tripped over a rock, and she looked down to see what it really was. It wasn't a rock. It was a cat's skull. She screamed out in shock.  
  
"May I help you?" An elderly-looking man walked out from behind a curtain, that held the words 'Employees only' written on a sign. Sakura grew a sweatdrop on her head.  
  
"Uhm, gomen nasai (sorry)," She bowed. "I-uhm well, just sort of tripped. That's all." The man looked at her with a small twinkle in his eye.  
  
"Are you sure my dear?" A chill ran down her spine as he smiled.  
  
"Yeah." He nodded and went behind the curtain, leaving Sakura to look around the shop. The shop and burning incense, and black candles burning. Suddenly, the shop had suddenly started scaring Sakura, remembering a lot of these things were used when summoning dead spirits. When summoning ghosts.  
  
She backed away from the incense, and bumped into something tall and hard, she turned around to apologize.  
  
"Gomen, I wasn't-" It wasn't a person. It was a large, dead, stuffed black crow standing on a stick. Sakura shivered and ran away from the stuffed animal, running to the other side of the store, the side with more books.  
  
It looked a lot safer here to Sakura, because what harm could a simple book possibly do to her?  
  
More than she thought it would.  
  
She walked casually down the aisles, looking at the titles. Most of them were about the stars, summoning spirits (which was something she did NOT want to do), curses, love spells (maybe later she might look at that), or how to accomplish evil. She came upon a book with the title 'How to Turn Your Life Around: Forgiving Yourself" and she picked it out. On the cover was a picture of a mask, half sad, half happy. She looked through it and thought what a book like that was doing here. Then, just as she was about to put it back, a sudden image ran through her head. An image, of a man lying on the ground, a knife sticking out of his back, his neck, wrists, and ankles brutally cut.  
  
She shook her head and put her book back, saying to herself over and over that she needed to stop watching late night television. Then, she saw a thick, red book that read, in fancy gold letters "Sweet Love Stories," which immediately caught Sakura's attention. She flipped through it, and stories about sacrificial love, eternal love, almost any love you could think of. Beautiful pictures accompanied the stories, and almost every story she looked at, there was a happy ending. She decided she would buy the book. She walked out of the aisle, but not before another book fell down. It was also thick and red, except the title was written in a darker red. A darker blood red. Sakura turned it over, it read "Gothic Love: A Collection of Cryptic Tales" She gently set the other book down and looked through this one, thinking Gothic as in Medieval, she was always interested in those foreign princess and prince stories her roommate had always talked about. She decided to skim through the pages, and see what this was about..  
  
The first page she turned, there was a grim reaper, with a heart to the side, and on the other side of the grim reaper, was a banshee, with the grim reaper's ax sticking out of her chest. For a split second, she thought the picture had moved. Sakura blinked. And slowly, but undoubtedly, the banshee turned her head toward Sakura, and her eyes glowed green. She screamed and shut it completely and dropped it onto the floor, and stepped back from it. This is such a freaky place, she though to herself. As she was about to pick the first book up, a heavy book fell on her head. She winced at the pain, and yelled out again.  
  
"What is-" She turned around and saw the book. It was a brown leather book, and she was about to put it back up into the shelves, when the color slowly swirled into a navy blue. She froze. A feeling of shock went throughout her body. The same shock she got when she saw the broadcast. She slowly read the cover, and there, in shiny, black, leather printed words, it read: "Cazeo Cosoka: Wizard of the Night." She ran her fingers over the title, and a Sakura felt a strange sensation. She opened the heavy cover, and the first page was old and worn, sepia-toned and blank. She turned to the next page, and there was a poem written on the page.. Something bumped into her from behind.  
  
"Oh sweet dear, gomen, gomen." The same employee from before chuckled.  
  
"It's alright," Sakura replied hastily. The man eyed the book she was holding with a smile.  
  
"Sensational book that one is." He pointed to the navy blue book in her hands.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. Really." He turned his eyes to the book about Gothic Love, and eyed her again.  
  
"Uhm..?"  
  
"That book on the ground? I don't believe I've seen that one.. And I'm the owner! Silly me." He laughed. Sakura laughed along, but in a more nervous sense. The man picked the Gothic Love book up, he turned the first page.  
  
"Ah, the grim and the banshee, what a wonderful story! So dark and always told in such a bloody way.. For love! Hah!" Sakura stared at him. She looked around for the first book she had found, but was not successful. She couldn't find it anywhere.  
  
"Would you like that book you hold?" Sakura swallowed.  
  
"How much is it?"  
  
"It's four yen day in my store, lucky you, so everything's four yen!" Sakura forced a smile.  
  
"Oh.. Wow."  
  
"Anything else you would like? Perhaps eye of dog? Tongue of frog? Heart of pig? Brain of hog?" Sakura swallowed and again forced a smile.  
  
"No, I guess, I'll just get this book." She suddenly looked out the window, and the rain seemed to stop right as she said that. Weird.  
  
"Well then, right this way!" He walked up to the counter. Sakura followed silently. As he typed away at the cash register, Sakura swallowed.  
  
"Uhm, don't you have a book called Sweet Love Stories?" His eyes looked up from beneath his glasses. It was the first time she had really got a good look at them, his eyes. They were grey.  
  
"Dear dear, I'm afraid you have our shop confused with someone else's shop."  
  
"Are you sure? It was red and I could've sworn-" He turned towards the clock and cleared his throat.  
  
"Look at the time! Oh, I have an important ceremony to attend to at six! And it's almost five! I'll never make it. It's to my daughter's birthday party you see, and it's farther downtown, it'll take me forever to get there at this rate!"  
  
"Oh! Then I'll hurry up so you can go!" Sakura smiled and handed him four yen.  
  
"Thank you thank you," He barely looked as he stuffed the money in the register. He looked up again, and strangely, his eyes, had, well, swirled blue. It didn't just turn blue, it swirled blue, the white melting into the color of the cold rain that swam across the city. Sakura blinked.  
  
"What? Is there something behind me you would like?" He pointed to the racks of potions and animal skins behind him. Sakura gulped.  
  
"No, nothing."  
  
"Alright then, love to stay and chat, but I have to go! My darling cherry blossom is very important to me." Cherry blossom? But, that was-  
  
"Your daughter's name is Sakura sir?" He nodded and smiled fondly. He tried to smile fondly. Though Sakura could notice part of his mouth curling up into a smirk. She wondered why that was.  
  
"Yes, sweet cherry blossom she is! I am guessing it is your name too? Since you asked, of course!"  
  
"Yeah, it is. And I know what you mean, it's not like you can read my mind." Sakura laughed nervously. Could he? She thought inside her head.  
  
"No, of course not." He laughed. Sakura walked towards the door.  
  
"Well I'll be going now. Sayonara! (Bye!)" She pushed open the door. He bowed.  
  
"Sayonara, and hope we meet again." As she left, the man twirled his fingers. The sign on the door turned by itself, now reading 'Closed.' The man finally smirked and went into the curtains where supposedly only the employees should be.  
  
---  
  
"Amazing work sir."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"She bought every word."  
  
"I could tell. Nice disguise, as that stuffed raven."  
  
"You too, I mean, the old clerk thing? And you scared her some too. Nicely done."  
  
"Thank you again.  
  
---  
  
Sakura clutched the book to in her arms as she walked down the streets. This part of the city seemed to look unfamiliar to her. She looked at the name of the street she was walking on. 'Young Misery Ln.' She blinked. That didn't sound like a street's name to her. She kept on.  
  
Though the sun was out, black clouds kept it from showering its bright light over the city. It seemed as if suddenly, all the water that had poured down from the Heavens earlier, was all gone. No puddles, no water, there was nothing left to show that there had ever been a storm there. Sakura shrugged, maybe the water just evaporated quickly. The streets were empty, which was odd. All her life Sakura had lived there, she remembered the city as busy, cars never ceasing, not even at night. The eerie silence was a change.  
  
The city seemed to have lots its grace, its happiness, its light. Now it seemed dark and cold, she shuddered as another cold wind blew against her face. Sakura looked around at the shops, thinking maybe she should turn around and ask where she was. But bizarrely enough, every time she tried to retrace her steps, it seemed as if the whole street and changed and rearranged itself. She laughed harshly. That was impossible.  
  
Or so she thought.  
  
Maybe she should ask the first open shop she came to. Sakura nodded and walked ahead again, for a long time. She probably would've actually gone in and asked for directions, but the problem was, all the stores were closed. She even knocked on windows, with no answer whatsoever. A hotel! She thought. A hotel has to be open! She ran again, hoping to meet a hotel, or some apartments, or any building with life inside.  
  
She never came to one.  
  
Sakura finally lost hope of finding a building with some humans in existence, and rested at a bench at bus stop. She had never been so tired in her life, she wondered, why now? She panted and gasped for air and clutched the book closer to her stomach. Then, another shock went through her body, and another and another. They wouldn't stop. A zap of pain went through her head, another through her chest, one through her stomach. Sakura doubled over in pain, collapsing.  
  
Sakura fell off the bench, still clutching the book. With on arm she supported herself, breathing heavily. She saw her short breaths appear in the cold smoke in front of her. Sakura blinked. It hadn't been this cold a minute ago. She looked up at the sky. The clouds were parting. Why is it so cold? She thought. It's only July!  
  
Tiny snips of ice began to drop from the sky as the clouds parted. Snow? In this part of year? They dropped heavier and heavier, till they began to form into sharp pieces of hail.  
  
"Hoe!?!" Sakura yelled out, shocked. It wasn't possible for snow to become hail! Especially not in such a short time ranging from 5 minutes to 10! She still had an arm on the ground, trying to push herself up. She looked at the sky again. The clouds were dark and bunched together again, except the hail kept falling.  
  
Falling.  
  
Falling.  
  
Falling.  
  
They rammed into her back, paining her from head to toe. Sakura could feel the back of her jacket ripping as the size of the hail grew bigger and bigger. Pieces fell onto her arms, injuring her painfully. Tears streamed for eyes. She tried to stand up, tried to take cover, but she could not move. Her legs turned into stone.  
  
Finally she gave up and her other arm dropped, her whole body on the ground. Just then, she felt the ground beneath her crumbling, the ground around her began to shake, the hail coming down harder than before. Sakura screamed out in fright as the street completely disappeared, and she fell into a hole. And so she was falling, with no support at all. The hail still fell though, as she fell. Sakura tried to grab onto anything, anything at all. But all she had was the book, and both of them were falling.  
  
Falling.  
  
Falling.  
  
Falling. 


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Card Captor Sakura characters. They all belong to Clamp. Everything else comes from MY imagination. 'Nuff said.  
  
Author's Note: CHAPTER 3! *whew* Lotsa work neh? YAP! School is a major set- back.. But JENNYFUR SHALL PREVAIL!!!!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Sakura opened her eyes. The clothes on her back were tattered and ripped, all there was left were only shreds. Sakura shivered on the wet grass, trying to keep herself warm. She'd have to find some decent clothing soon, lest she freeze to death. But the question was, where would she find clothing, or anyone at that matter?  
  
She looked around her. She was in the middle of a cold forest, which definitely did not look like anywhere she'd ever known in Japan. She laid her hand on the ground, when she saw the book beside her. The book. There was something strange about that book. Something that sent a chill down her spine. Sakura opened the book to the same page as the poem she was looking at before the clerk had bumped into her. She read the poem silently to herself:  
  
Sinister and dark  
  
Always thought to be right  
  
He was named Cazeo Cosaka  
  
Wizard of the night.  
  
Here secrets ye shall know  
  
About the Master himself  
  
The power he was bestow'd  
  
And the hand he was dealt.  
  
Listen closely mere mortal  
  
And find out ye will  
  
About the Hell-magicked portal  
  
And about the souls you shall sell.  
  
Another chill ran down her spine. Maybe she should just put it to the side for now. This was too freaky to investigate now.. Especially when the sun was about to set. Sakura would need to find a place to take a break from all this confusion, a city perhaps. So she got up, taking the book with her.  
  
For hours it seemed, as she wandered mindlessly with no idea of where she was going. No idea whatsoever. She could only hope that she could find somewhere to rest before night fell, or who knew what could happen in the shadowy darkness.  
  
  
  
---  
  
Tomoyo watched her window was the rain beat against the ground. It had never rained like this before, as if endless. She grew worried about Sakura.. Who knows what could happen in weather like this? Tomoyo quickly ran to her phone and dialed the number of Sakura's dorm room.  
  
Ring. Ring. Ring. No one answered. Someone has to be home, Tomoyo thought. The phone kept ringing. What about Chai? Tomoyo wondered. She waited a while more, thinking about Sakura and her roommate. She suddenly remembered that Chai had talked about boarding a flight for the United States that afternoon. Tomoyo looked at the clock. It was near six. She sighed and was about to hang up as the phone picked up.  
  
"Hello?" The voice of a man answered, with Tomoyo very confused. Men were not allowed in the girl's dormitories.  
  
"Uhm.. Is Sakura there?" There was a brief, awkward silence. Till finally, the voice replied, stiffly.  
  
"You have the wrong number." Then he hang up. Tomoyo blinked. She couldn't have dialed the wrong number. Sakura was on her speed dial. She was about to try again till she just suddenly realized she had left a pizza in the oven to cook.. For over an hour. She ran out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. Heavy smoke was coming out of the oven, spreading around the kitchen. For a minute, Tomoyo felt odd, as if she was going to faint. She resisted the thought and waved her hands, trying to make a pathway through the smoke with her arms. She grabbed a mitten and turned off the stove and put her hand on the handle.  
  
"Itai! (Ouch!)" The handle of the oven seemed so hot it sizzled through the mitten. Nevertheless, Tomoyo quickly yanked open the oven, letting the oven door fall to the ground. More smoke poured out from the oven. Tomoyo gasped for air as the grey fumes swirled around her. Feeling as if losing breathe, she fell to her side, leaning weakly on the counter as she tried to get out of the kitchen. The thick haze blurred her eyes; making tears run down Tomoyo's cheeks. She fell to her knees, then to the ground. With her last amount of strength, she tried her best to crawl out of her fiery surroundings. Then, a hand wrapped itself around Tomoyo's ankle. She screamed out in terror.  
  
She turned around, looking to see what it was. All she could see was smoke, and she had an eerie feeling that the smoke itself was trying to prevent her from living. Tomoyo felt the hand grab on tightly and it jerked her closer towards the oven.  
  
"No!" Tomoyo cried. "Help!!!!!!" She screamed as the heat grew, and as she was pulled into what seemed like her own oven. But the hand did not take her to the insides of a regular oven, instead, it took her to the place with the hottest flames. To the place with the darkest looks, the evilest deeds, the place with the most hideous creatures. It took her to Hell.  
  
---  
  
He walked along the edges of his garden, a solemn look on his face. A light rain hit his shoulders, wetting his chestnut-colored hair. The young man did not seem to notice, as he cupped a cherry blossom in his hand. A young woman watched from a window.  
  
"Even after all these years.. He still hasn't stopped thinking about her." She flipped back her long, jet-black locks. She watched him as he sat down on the steps of his house, the pink cherry blossom in his hand. The woman sighed.  
  
"Li-kun," She whispered out of habit, fully knowing that he was not a boy any more. "What has she got that I haven't?" She quickly ducked as he turned his head towards her window.  
  
Syaoran eyed the window. Mei-ling still hasn't learned, he thought to himself. Even after all these years, she's still the same. A tiny smile of amusement grew on his lips. He looked at the delicate flower in the middle of his palm, and laid it on the steps beside him. The rain was warm today, as it usually was in Hong-Kong. He crossed his arms and laid his head on top of them, staring at the beautiful varieties of plants that had been faithfully growing in this garden for so many years. Their roots embedded in the soil forever.  
  
I don't have anywhere to put my roots in, he thought. I don't have anywhere to live forever, anywhere to truly call home. I don't belong in this place, not here. I didn't even belong in- He stopped his thoughts abruptly and shook his head, reminding himself that it was a long time ago, and part of the past.  
  
There was nothing really important for Syaoran to do on this Saturday evening, except for the dinner appointment with an ambassador of some sort, but he honestly did not care for a man of that type. He would miss it on purpose; after all, there were many other people to entertain the bastard who called himself 'Mikoto No Fuyuu.'  
  
Syaoran lay on his back outside his rooms, the roof covering his head, but the walls still behind him, and not around. He put his hands under his head, and watched the water sprinkle over the land. His eyelids grew heavy with the faintest feel of dreams. The rain grew just a bit heavier, thought not by much. Syaoran took his last look at the cherry blossom, and drifted away.  
  
---  
  
"Is all well?"  
  
"Yes. All is going as planned. The card captor's friend has fallen.. As soon will the boy."  
  
"Perfection."  
  
---  
  
The cold wind blew against her face. Sakura shivered, hugging the book as she pressed on. The sun had just set, sending shades of pink, yellow, and lavender shooting through the sky. The golden rays started faintly dissapearing. Sakura wondered at the beauty.  
  
"Maybe I could be able to watch a sunset someone some other day.." Sakura said to herself. She shrugged the thought off and kept on walking, determined to find a city. She finally came to a small black walking road, leading to what seemed a gathering of lights. A city! Finally! Sakura ran forward, panting heavily.  
  
The trees around her towered above. They seemed.. Hollow. Dark and soulless. Sakura ran faster, tripping over a sharp rock. She got up to see a tree whose features resemble the face of an ogre screaming in pain, looking down at her, as if trying to spread his horror and terror. She shivered and went on.  
  
As she came closer, she indeed saw people. But it wasn't a city. It was a village. A village that looked like it just popped out of history book. There were taverns, old Japanese style houses and pagodas. There were no cars, no radios, no skyscrapers, nothing that resembled modern Japan in the least.  
  
Sakura wobbled weakly into the village, receiving a large amount of stares at her clothes. She thought it was only because of the shreds, but it was also because of the style. No one in the village had ever seen such a strangely dressed person as Sakura.  
  
She leaned against a wall in a stone alley, barely standing. She breathed heavily, almost dying of exhaustion. She began finding it hard to breathe as her breaths got shorter and shorter. A knot twisted and writhed in her stomach. She doubled over, clutching her stomach in pain. Beads of sweat dropped from her eyebrow as she struggled to keep herself standing. Sakura almost screamed as a warm hand touched her shoulder. She turned to find a young woman, a bit older than Sakura herself, looking at her in a concerned matter.  
  
"Are you alright?" Sakura blinked and took a better look at the woman. The woman was wearing a dark blue kimono with white patterns, her ebony colored hair falling down her back, also circling her pale face. Her small, black eyes seemed full of mystery, secrets. Her long, dark eyelashes framed her eyes the way long, streaks of grass framed a pool.  
  
"I-I am, am.. Am.." Sakura gasped for the air to supply her words. She suddenly tumbled to the ground, losing all her strength at once. She looked up at the woman as she ran to her side.  
  
"Are you alright?!" But Sakura did not hear the woman. She blacked out.  
  
---  
  
Syaoran woke to the sound of howling anger and the full moon shining in the dark blue sky. He looked up, his face and him shrouded in shadows. He crawled farther back, so he was totally hidden. He looked between the cracks in the hand bars on the steps, and studied two men who were arguing loudly in the middle of the garden.  
  
"You liar! You had him killed haven't you? I told you not to do it! I commanded you to wait!" Syaoran narrowed his eyes at the fat, rounded stomach man. His hair was long and tied, but no braided. His face was red with anger, his fists shaking. It was the 'Lord of Riches' himself. The bastard Takinu.  
  
"I never ordered him killed! Just because he was not at the dinner party is not a reason to assume that he is dead! I don't know about what about happened! I swear it!" Syaoran blinked. Were they talking about him? Takinu glared darkly.  
  
"Do not lie to me Sikono. I can feel your dishonesty.." He opened his hands that has been hanging at his sides and closed them, tightly, slowly, as if he were grabbing something. Suddenly, fingerprints appeared on Sikono's neck as his face turned blue. His knees fell. It seemed like something was clutching his neck, trying to rob him of his life. But there was nothing around his neck. Only air.  
  
"G-go-gomen.. M-Ma-Makoto.." He fell, unconscious to the ground, a green emerald fell out from his hand. Glowing. Takinu took it from him, grinning. He examined it as he put it in one of his many pockets on his blood crimson robe. He sniffed the air, and growled.  
  
"Seems another is watching.. My future warrior perhaps? We'll have to see neh? We shall see. Sweet dreams.. Syaoran." And he smirked as he vanished in a swirl of green smoke, leaving Sikono's body behind. Syaoran shuddered as he said his name. Future warrior? What was that idiot talking about? And the smoke? Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. It could've just been that glass of Sake he had drank with his neighbor this morning. Maybe. Sake could do a billion horrible things to a strong man. Then again..  
  
Syaoran stepped out from the shadows, staring at the body. What should I do? He asked himself. Leave him there? He walked silently down the steps and to the garden, where Sikono layed. Syaoran stared. The marks around his neck were still there, leaving indigo and azure imprints of a hand. A large hand. Syaoran blinked. The Makoto no Fuyuu's hand.  
  
Syaoran tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and tied it around Sikono's eyes, then tore another piece and tied it around his mouth, gagging the man when he woke up. He slung the body over his shoulder and walked up the steps to his room, to not only ask why they had mentioned him, but what Takinu was planning, and what kind of magic he had.  
  
---  
  
"Lord I."  
  
"I know.. I know. You apologize for your miserable work, for almost putting our entire plan in jeopardy,. You apologize for being a waste of air."  
  
"Yes lord. Yes. I do. I do apologize. That imbecile had no idea what he was doing. Lord of Riches. Pah."  
  
"I warn you, watch out. For one of these days, my hunger will grow unacceptable, and perhaps.."  
  
"Say no more Lord. Say no more."  
  
--- 


End file.
